WO2001005484A1

WO2001005484A1 - Apparatus for washing and sterilizing potable water container and supplying purified water into the container

Info

Publication number: WO2001005484A1
Application number: PCT/KR2000/000762
Authority: WO
Inventors: Myung-Hee Cho
Original assignee: D.M Puretech Co.,Ltd
Priority date: 1999-07-16
Filing date: 2000-07-14
Publication date: 2001-01-25
Also published as: KR100445746B1; KR20010010183A; KR20020019537A; AU6024600A

Abstract

The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container. This apparatus is designed to continuously perform a process of washing and sterilizing the interior and exterior of a water container and a process of supplying purified water into the container within one completely sealed space, thus providing purified water free from any contamination. This apparatus has a washing water tank unit (11), a valve unit (12), and an ozonizer (13). A washing chamber (15) is defined at a position above the valve unit (12). The above washing chamber (15) has a plurality of water ejection nozzles, a container rotating unit (14), and an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp. In addition, a container feed conveyor (16), a container arranging unit (17), and a container capping unit (18) are provided within the apparatus.

Description

APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND STERILIZING POTABLE WATER

CONTAINER AND SUPPLYING PURIFIED WATER INTO THE CONTAINER

Technical Field

The present invention relates, in general, to an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container and, more particularly, to an apparatus designed to continuously perform a process of washing and sterilizing the interior and exterior of a potable water container and a process of supplying purified water into the container within one sealed space, thus providing purified water free from any contamination caused by a separate performing of the two processes in the prior art

Background Art

Recently, environmental pollution, such as air pollution, soil pollution and water pollution, has been recognized as one of the very important social problems Of such environmental pollution, water pollution caused by contaminated river water, seawater, hot spring water and natural mineral water restrict use of potable water Therefore, most users want to drink water after purification of the water This forces the users to purchase water purifiers

In the prior art, a variety of water purifiers have been proposed and used For example, Fig 1 shows a conventional home water purifier 1, which is designed to purify city water and to directly dispense purified water from a water purification unit to a dispensing cock without containing the purified water within a separate water container On the other hand, schools, offices, hospitals or other public areas preferably use natural mineral water dispensers 1 ' of Fig 2 in addition to such conventional water purifiers 1 Such a natural mineral water dispenser 1 ' is designed to seat a standard- sized and commercially marketed natural mineral water container "A" thereon, with water from the container "A" being heated or cooled as desired before it is dispensed through a dispensing cock Such conventional natural mineral water dispensers 1 ' have the following problems That is, natural mineral water bottled within the container "A" is not produced from city water, but is typically produced by a natural mineral water company using underground water In order to bottle such a natural mineral water in a mineral water company, the water container "A" is washed and cleaned prior to bottling natural mineral water into the container "A" In the prior art, the water container "A" is not subjected to a sterilizing process, but is only washed prior to bottling the mineral water into the container "A" Therefore, the natural mineral water bottled within such containers "A" may be easily contaminated with a variety of germs, such as bacteria In addition, the process of washing such water containers "A" and the process of filling natural mineral water into the washed water containers "A" are not continuously performed within one sealed space, but are separately performed within separate spaces That is, the water containers "A" after the container washing process are fed from the washing station to a water filling station by a container conveyor system and are respectively filled with natural mineral water at the water filling station Therefore, the water containers "A" are undesirably brought into contact with atmospheric air and may be easily contaminated with a variety of atmospheric germs during the process of feeding the washed containers "A" from the washing station to the water filling station Another problem of the conventional natural mineral water dispensers 1 ' resides in that commercially marketed bottled natural mineral water is more expensive than purified water produced by conventional water purifiers 1, and so the mineral water despensers 1 ' force users to pay a considerable amount of money for bottled mineral water and are reduced in their economic efficiency in comparison with the conventional water purifiers 1

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container, the apparatus being designed to continuously perform a process of washing and sterilizing the interior and exterior of a potable water container and a process of supplying purified water into the container within one completely sealed space, thus providing purified water free from any contamination caused when the container is fed from a container washing station to a water filling station separated from the container washing station in the prior art.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a water container and supplying purified water into the container, comprising a housing, a washing water tank unit installed at a lower portion of the interior of the housing, a valve unit and an ozonizer, both being installed above the washing water tank unit within the housing, the valve unit being also connected to both the washing water tank unit and the ozonizer through a plurality of pipes, a washing chamber defined within the housing at a position above the valve unit, the washing chamber being provided with a plurality of water ejection nozzles, a container rotating unit, and an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp, with the water ejection nozzles being connected to the valve unit through a plurality of pipes, a container feed conveyor installed within the housing at a side position of the ozonizer, a container arranging unit positioned between the ozonizer and the container feed conveyor, a container capping unit provided at a position above the container feed conveyor within the housing, and a control unit provided at a position under the conveyor within the housing.

In the apparatus, the container rotating unit comprises a rotating shaft, an actuation cylinder mounted to one end of the rotating shaft so as to rotate the shaft, a plurality of swing bars, each of the bars being integrally and perpendicularly extended from a predetermined position of the rotating shaft to a length at a first end thereof, and a container holding spout assembled with a second end of each of the swing bars into a single body.

On the other hand, the container arranging unit comprises a corrugated container support having a plurality of cells individually provided with a container holding pin for holding a container on the container support, and an actuation cylinder provided at the back of the container support so as to actuate the container support under the control of the control unit

The container capping unit comprises a cap dispensing rail provided with a cap stopper at its outlet end, and an actuation cylinder having a press member at an outside end of its piston rod

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig 1 is a perspective view of a conventional home water purifier,

Fig 2 is a perspective view of a conventional natural mineral water dispenser,

Fig 3 is a view, showing the construction and operation of an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention,

Fig 4 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a container rotating unit included in the apparatus of this invention,

Fig 5 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a container arranging unit included in the apparatus of this invention,

Fig 6 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a container capping unit included in the apparatus of this invention,

Figs 7a to 7c are sectional views, showing an operation of the apparatus according to this invention, in which Fig 7a shows a container washing process of the apparatus,

Fig 7b shows a container rotating and arranging process of the apparatus; and

Fig 7c shows a container capping process of the apparatus, Fig 8 is a perspective view, showing the appearance of the apparatus of this invention, and

Fig 9 is a flowchart of the process of washing and sterilizing a water container and supplying purified water into the container performed by the apparatus of this invention

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Reference now should be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components

Fig 3 is a view, showing the construction and operation of an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container in accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention Fig 4 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a container rotating unit included in the apparatus of the invention Fig 5 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a container arranging unit included in the apparatus of the invention Fig 6 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a container capping unit included in the apparatus of the invention Figs 7a to 7c are sectional views, showing the operation of the apparatus of this invention Fig 8 is a perspective view, showing the appearance of the apparatus of this invention Fig 9 is a flowchart of the process of washing and sterilizing a water container and supplying purified water into the container performed by the apparatus of this invention

As shown in the drawings, the apparatus for washing and sterilizing a water container and supplying purified water into the container according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a sealed housing, with a washing water tank unit 11 installed at the lower portion of the interior of said housing Both a valve unit 12 and an ozonizer 13 are installed above the washing water tank unit 11 within the housing The above valve unit 12 is connected to both the washing water tank unit 11 and the ozonizer 13 through a plurality of pipes, thus controlling both the flow of washing water from the washing water tank unit 11 and the flow of ozone from the ozonizer 13 A washing chamber 15 is defined within the housing at a position above the valve unit 12 The above washing chamber 15 is provided with a plurality of water ejection nozzles "NO" and "Nl", a container rotating unit 14, and an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp "LP", with the water ejection nozzles "NO" and "Nl" being connected to the valve unit

12 through a plurality of pipes The nozzles "NO" and "Nl" thus eject pressurized washing water and ozone to water containers under the control of the valve unit 12, thereby washing and sterilizing the exterior and interior of the containers as will be described in detail later herein A container feed conveyor 16 is installed within the housing at a right-hand side position of the ozonizer 13 as best seen in Fig 3 In addition, a container arranging unit 17 is positioned between the ozonizer 13 and the container feed conveyor 16 The apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of this invention also comprises a container capping unit 18 at a position above the container feed conveyor 16, and a control unit 19 at a position under the conveyor 16

The above container rotating unit 14 consists of a rotating shaft 21, with a first actuation cylinder 22 being mounted to one end of the rotating shaft 21 The container rotating unit 14 also has a plurality of, preferably, two regularly spaced swing bars 23, each of which integrally and perpendicularly extends from a predetermined position of the rotating shaft 21 to a length at one end thereof

Mounted to the other end of each of the swing bars 23 is a container holding spout 24 Additionally, the container arranging unit 17 consists of a corrugated container support 32, which has a plurality of cells individually provided with a container holding pin 31 for holding a container laid on a cell A second actuation cylinder 33 is provided at the back of the corrugated container support 32 so as to actuate the container support 32 under the control of the control unit 19

The container capping unit 18 consists of a cap dispensing rail 42 provided with a cap stopper 41 at its outlet end The capping unit 18 also comprises a third actuation cylinder 44 having a press member 43 at the outside end of its piston rod

The process of washing and sterilizing a water container and supplying purified water into the container performed by the above-mentioned apparatus according to the primary embodiment of this invention will be described herein below with reference to the flowchart of Fig 9

In the process of washing and sterilizing a water container and supplying purified water into the container, a washing chamber door "D", which is mounted at a left-hand wall of the housing of the apparatus as shown in Fig 8, is primarily opened by a user at step SI of Fig 9 Thereafter, a container installation step is performed at step 2 That is, after the step SI, a plurality of, preferably, two water containers "A" and "A"' are set on the container holding spouts 24 at step S2 in a way such that the containers are completely overturned, with the mouths of the containers being coupled to the spouts 24 After completely installing the containers "A" and "A"' on the spouts 24, the washing chamber door "D" is closed at step S3

Thereafter, a switch button SW, provided on a control panel positioned on the front wall of the housing, is turned on, thus activating the apparatus In response to the operation of the switch button SW, one designated valve of the valve unit 12 is opened under the control of the control unit 19 at step S4 At this step S4, a pump "P" is also started under the control of the control unit 19 to eject pressurized general washing water "Wl" from the washing water tank unit 11 onto the entire exterior surfaces of the containers "A" and "A"' through the nozzles

"NO", thus washing the exterior surfaces of the containers

In the apparatus of this invention, the washing water tank unit 11 consists of four tanks first to fourth tanks The first tank contains general washing water Wl therein, the second tank contains interior sterilization water W2 prepared by an addition of chlorine to reverse osmotic water (hereinbelow, referred to simply as

"R/O water"), the third tank contains R/O water W3, and the fourth tank contains specified washing water W4 prepared by an addition of ozone (O₃) to R/O water

After accomplishing the step S4 of washing the exterior surfaces of the water containers "A" and "A"', another designated valve of the valve unit 12 is opened under the control of the control unit 19 at step S5 At this step S5, the pump "P" is also operated under the control of the control unit 19 to eject pressurized interior sterilization water "W2" from the second tank of the washing water tank unit 11 into the containers "A" and "A"' through the nozzles "Nl", thus washing and sterilizing the interior of the containers "A" and "A"'.

After accomplishing the step S5 of washing and sterilizing the interior of the containers "A" and "A"', still another designated valve of the valve unit 12 is opened under the control of the control unit 19 at step S6. At this step S6, the pump "P" is also operated under the control of the control unit 19 to eject pressurized R/O water "W3" from the third tank of the washing water tank unit 1 1 to the exterior and interior of the containers "A" and "A"' through the nozzles "NO" and "Nl", thus primarily rinsing the containers "A" and "A"'. After the step S6, still another designated valve of the valve unit 12 is opened under the control of the control unit 19 at step S7. At this step S7, the pump "P" is also operated under the control of the control unit 19 to eject specified washing water W4, prepared by an addition of ozone (O₃) to R/O water, from the fourth tank of the washing water tank unit 11 to the exterior and interior of the containers "A" and "A"' through the nozzles "NO" and "Nl", thus finally rinsing the containers (see Fig. 7a).

When the process of washing and sterilizing the water containers "A" and "A"' is accomplished by completely performing the steps SI to S7, the open valves of the valve unit 12 are all closed, with the pump "P" being stopped at the same time. Thereafter, the first actuation cylinder 22 of the container rotating unit 14 is operated under the control of the control unit 19 at step S8, and so the rotating shaft 21 of the unit 14 is rotated at a predetermined rotation angle in a direction as shown by the arrow "S" of Fig. 4. Such a rotating action of the rotating shaft 21 allows the swing bars 23 of the spouts 24 to be rotated at the same rotation angle in the same direction as that of the shaft 21, with the mouths of the containers "A" and "A"' being held by the spouts 24. When the swing bars 23 completely pass their vertical positions during their rotating action, the containers "A" and "A"' are naturally removed from the spouts 24 due to their own weight and are held on the cells of the corrugated container support 32. When the containers "A" and "A"' are completely removed from the spouts 24 due to their own weight, the first actuation cylinder 22 returns to its original position, thus rotating the shaft 21 in a direction opposite to the arrow "S" and allowing the swing bars 23 and the spouts 24 to return to their original positions, at which the spouts 24 can seat new water containers thereon At any rate, when the containers "A" and "A"' are naturally removed from the spouts 24 due to their own weight and are held on the corrugated container support 32 at step S8, each of the containers "A" and "A"' is held on an associated cell of the support 32 by a container holding pin 31 Thereafter, the second actuation cylinder 33 is operated at step S9 to vertically stand the container support 32 uprightly as shown in Fig 5 The containers "A" and "A"' are thus orderly arranged on the container feed conveyor 16 When the containers "A" and "A"' are completely arranged on the feed conveyor 16 as described above, the second actuation cylinder 33 returns to its original position, thus allowing the container support 32 to return from its stand position to its original position, at which the support 32 can receive new containers thereon (see Fig. 7b).

Thereafter, at step S10, the containers "A" and "A"' arranged on the feed conveyor 16 receive purified water In this step S10, purified water from a separate water purifier (not shown) is received into the containers "A" and "A"' through a hose (not shown) extending from the water purifier In such a case, the hose extending from the water purifier is operated by a fourth actuation cylinder (not shown) that is positioned above the container feed conveyor 16

In the present invention, a conventional water purifier is preferably used as the water purifier for the apparatus However, it should be understood that a large-capacity water purifier is more preferably used with the apparatus of this invention

When the step S10 is accomplished to completely receive purified water into the containers "A" and "A"', the container feed conveyor 16 moves at step S 11 in a direction as shown by an arrow of Fig 7c During such a movement of the container feed conveyor 16 along with containers "A" and "A"', two caps "C", which have been stopped at the outlet of the cap dispensing rail 42 by the cap stopper 41, are automatically and orderly caught on the mouths of the containers "A" and "A"' respectively at step S12 (primary capping step) Thereafter, the container feed conveyor 16 further moves in the same direction until the containers "A" and "A"' reach a secondary capping position When the containers "A" and "A"' completely reach the secondary capping position, the conveyor 16 is stopped Thereafter, step S13 is performed At step SI 3, the third actuation cylinder 44 is operated to allow its press member 43 to press each cap "C" onto the mouth of an associated container "A" or "A"', thus finally capping the containers "A" and "A"' After the final capping step, the container feed conveyor 16 is moved again at step S14, thus dispensing the two water containers "A" and "A"', which are completely washed, sterilized and contain purified water, to the outside of the housing of the apparatus

In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the apparatus washes and sterilizes two water containers "A" and "A'" and supplies purified water into the two containers "A" and "A"' at the same time However, it should be understood that the apparatus of this invention may be designed to process three or more water containers at the same time without affecting the function of this invention

In addition, the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp "LP" may be continuously turned on during the process of washing and sterilizing the water containers "A" and "A"' and supplying purified water into the containers "A" and "A"' and dispensing the containers to the outside of the housing of the above-mentioned apparatus In such a case, the apparatus accomplishes an ultraviolet sterilization effect, thus enhancing the sterilization effect for the purified water and providing almost completely purified water to users

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the present invention provides an apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container This apparatus is designed to continuously perform a process of washing and sterilizing the interior and exterior of the water container and a process of supplying purified water into the container within one completely sealed space, thus providing purified water free from any contamination caused when the containers are fed from a container washing station to a water filling station separated from the container washing station in the prior art The apparatus of this invention allows users to drink relatively inexpensive purified water in place of relatively expensive marketed natural mineral water, thus allowing the users to save money on drinking water The apparatuses of this invention are thus preferably used in schools, offices, hospitals or other public areas In addition, the apparatus of this invention may be preferably used for selling purified water in some stores Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims

Claims

1. An apparatus for washing and sterilizing a potable water container and supplying purified water into the container, comprising: a housing; a washing water tank unit installed at a lower portion of the interior of said housing; a valve unit and an ozonizer, both being installed above said washing water tank unit within the housing, said valve unit being also connected to both the washing water tank unit and the ozonizer through a plurality of pipes; a washing chamber defined within the housing at a position above said valve unit, said washing chamber being provided with a plurality of water ejection nozzles, a container rotating unit, and an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp, with the water ejection nozzles being connected to said valve unit through a plurality of pipes; a container feed conveyor installed within the housing at a side position of said ozonizer; a container arranging unit positioned between said ozonizer and said container feed conveyor; a container capping unit provided at a position above the container feed conveyor within the housing; and a control unit provided at a position under the conveyor within the housing.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said container rotating unit comprises: a rotating shaft; an actuation cylinder mounted to one end of said rotating shaft so as to rotate the shaft; a plurality of swing bars, each of said bars being integrally and perpendicularly extended from a predetermined position of said rotating shaft to a length at a first end thereof; and a container holding spout assembled with a second end of each of said swing bars into a single body

3 The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said container arranging unit comprises a corrugated container support having a plurality of cells individually provided with a container holding pin for holding a container on the container support, and an actuation cylinder provided at the back of said container support so as to actuate the container support under the control of the control unit

4 The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said container capping unit comprises a cap dispensing rail provided with a cap stopper at its outlet end, and an actuation cylinder having a press member at an outside end of its piston rod